Lockamy, school board helped Johnson High win state title

Give a special assist to Savannah-Chatham County school district Supertinendent Thomas Lockamy for Johnson High's state basketball title last weekend. Lockamy stood up to his staff -- specifically, former athletic director Peggy Johnson -- who wanted to keep smaller high schools like Johnson "playing up" to the Class AAAAA level, where they were less competitive. Instead, Lockamy sided with board members in 2009 who wanted local schools to play in the Class AAA category.

Give Johnson High School's players and coaches plenty of credit for their victory over Savannah High School in last weekend's state Class AAA championship game in Macon.

But don't forget to high-five Superintendent Thomas Lockamy and some former members of the school board. Without steps they took four years ago, the Atom Smashers might not have been in the title game.

The year was 2009. The scene was 208 Bull St., the school system's headquarters.

At that time and place, several school board members thought that Savannah-Chatham's public schools' sports teams would be more competitive playing teams from similar-sized schools, as opposed to "playing up" to the Class AAAAA level.

It made perfect sense. While David sometimes beat Goliath -- Savannah High's amazing success in basketball at the 5A is the classic example -- that's the exception. Usually, David gets his butt kicked.

It wasn't the first time this issue came up. Several board members first pitched it back in 2005. They got nowhere. That looked to be the same case in 2009.

Peggy Johnson, the school district's athletic director, was vehemently opposed to the 3A move. Her argument -- besides the usual "this is the way we've always done things" -- was that the Georgia High School Association, which governs high school sports in the state, would retaliate against the district for essentially blowing up their 5A region in this area of Georgia.

Lockamy was torn. On one hand, he was willing to explore the move to 3A. But on the other hand, he didn't want to go against his staff.

Fortunately, the school board convinced the superintendent to side with logic. After a "lock down" to keep playing in 5A for a few more years, the district's sports teams made the jump to 3A for the 2012 season.

And guess what? The sky didn't fall. Instead, Johnson and Savannah High reached for the stars in high school basketball, playing for the state title.

Give Lockamy and some former school board members a big, behind-the-scenes assist for that matchup. Had they not faced down the local bureaucracy, that game might not have happened, and 7,000 local basketball fans wouldn't have made the trek up I-16 to Macon last weekend.

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The move to 3A shoulda been done decades ago! Playing in a school system that is over-matched and lacking resources has been detrimental to the success of thousands of kids. Morality, scholarship opportunity, and academic awareness. Stay in 5A to save money? At who's expense? The children bear the burden of the adult decision makers' choices. Poor facilities and weak fan bases. Other than basketball, sports in Savannah get little respect on the state level. There's a general consensus that the people in Savannah dont care about sports.Plenty of talent and potential have gone to waste over the years, I for one am glad the change finally came.